


i hope you'll be happy, miss tara joan

by callunavulgari



Series: Dark Month Collection [57]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Character Death, Grief/Mourning, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 18:36:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12463518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callunavulgari/pseuds/callunavulgari
Summary: They turn off John’s life support on a Thursday.





	i hope you'll be happy, miss tara joan

**Author's Note:**

> Crossover meme strikes again, this one was Rodney McKay and angst. Takes place in an AU of my Miss Tara Joan AU, which is, astonishingly, also about Rodney taking care of John's daughter after he dies. Look at me, lovin' that angst.
> 
> Oh, also. Miss Tara is [a Johnny Cash song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwroMAGi1wM), and basically will forever be my headcanon name for John Sheppard's daughter.

They turn off John’s life support on a Thursday. Rodney comes home that night to find Joan curled up on her side in front of the television. Her eyes are shut, but there are tacky tear tracks down her cheeks and the screen is paused on a close up of John’s face. She's got a shirt of his that Rodney recognizes from the laundry basket scrunched up under her head like a pillow, her nose buried in the fabric.

With shaking hands, Rodney picks up the remote and presses play. The footage is several years old, he notes, because the gray is gone from John’s temples, several familiar lines missing from his face, but it isn’t until someone presses a tiny mewling bundle into John’s hands that Rodney realizes that the video was filmed just after Joan was born.

John is looking down at her, the widest, sweetest smile on his face, and as Rodney watches with his heart in his throat, John begins to croon down at her.

It’s a song he’s heard dozens of times through the years, usually accompanied by John’s wavering, off-key singing and Joan’s high-pitched giggles. He wonders if this is the first time that John ever sang it to her.

“I hope you’ll be happy, Miss Tara, Miss Tara,” John croons, happy tears in his eyes. “I hope you’ll be happy, Miss Tara Joan.”

He looks up at the camera and the video cuts off abruptly, leaving Rodney alone in the quiet dark. There are fresh tears on his face as he looks down at Joan, swallowing heavily before gathering her quickly into his arms.

She grumbles at him, but doesn’t wake as he pads down the hallway to her bedroom, nudging the door open with his hip. Carefully, he sets her down and arranges the blankets so they won’t get tangled around her knees in the middle of the night. Then he takes a seat in the rocking chair that’s been there since she was born, and keeps watch over John Sheppard’s legacy through the rest of the night.

When she wakes crying, Rodney pulls her into his arms and sings to her.


End file.
